USI.2b – Geographic Regions of North America and their characteristics. Label the map.

If you need help,

use this list:

Canadian Shield Coastal Range Coastal Plain Interior Lowlands

Rocky Mountains Great Plains Basin and Range Appalachian Highlands
When you have finished, go on to the next page and complete the characteristics chart. Use the
following information to help you complete the chart.
• Located west of the Appalachian Highlands and east of the Great Plains
• Located along the Pacific Coast, stretches from California to Canada
• Located west of the Coastal Plain extending from eastern Canada to western Alabama; includes the
Piedmont
• Located west of the Rocky Mountains and east of the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascades
• Wrapped around Hudson Bay in a horseshoe shape
• Located along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico
• Located west of the Interior Lowlands and east of the Rocky Mountains
• Rolling flatlands with many rivers, broad river valleys, and grassy hills
• Hills worn by erosion and hundreds of lakes carved by glaciers
• Holds some of the oldest rock formations in North America
• Broad lowland providing many excellent harbors
• Old, eroded mountains (oldest mountain range in North America)
• Flat land that gradually increases in elevation westward, grasslands
• Rugged mountains along the Pacific Coast
• Area of varying elevations containing isolated mountain ranges and Death Valley, the lowest point
in North America
• Rugged mountains stretching from Alaska almost to Mexico; high elevations
• Contains fertile valleys
• Contains the Continental Divide, which determines the directional flow of rivers
USI.2b: Use this chart to describe the location and characteristics of the geographic regions of North
America.
Region Characteristics

Coastal Plain

Appalachian Highlands

Canadian Shield

Interior Lowlands

Great Plains

Rocky Mountains

Basin and Range

Coastal Range
Complete the following chart. Draw a picture of each feature. At the bottom of the page, draw a map that
includes at least one of each feature.

Term Definition Picture

lake

large natural stream of water that runs through

the land

tributary

part of a sea or ocean extending into the land,

usually larger than a bay

bay

land with steep sides that rises sharply (1,000 feet

or more) from surrounding land; generally larger
and more rugged than a hill

hill

A row of connected mountains

plains

a broad, flat area of land higher than the

surrounding land

island

body of land jutting into a lake or ocean, surrounded

on three sides by water